Carolina Hurricanes 99 Draft Review

By pbadmin

June 30th, 1999

Eye of the Hurricane a Hurricane’s Draft ReviewAs the Hurricanes look to relocate for the third time in what seems as many years, they bring along two future players that could end up making a mark for themselves in Greensboro. The Canes have been seeking a good powerplay quaterback and offensive defencmen for quite sometime now. They got a good one in David Tanabe. Tannabe played for Wisconsin this past season, and made a name for himself by sticking with the US World Junior team. Although his numbers weren’t that great, they must have been overlooked due to his age and speed. Tannabe could perhaps be the fastest defencmen in the draft. He’s alot like Bret Hedican but with more offensive potential. He makes great passes and posses a very good shot. He’s a bit below the average size for a defencmen at 6 foot 1, but he’s still growing. Canes fans will have to wait for him. He’s in the College program and it doesn’t look like he’ll opt out to get a chance to play in the NHL. That’s not a bad thing though. Most likely the Canes will wait for him, he’s got such a good package of speed and skill that the wait won’t be long. After the Canes experiment with Paul Coffey faltered it appears as though they have found an offensive defencmen that they have craved. In round two the Canes picked a falling star in Brett Lysak. He was considered by most as a surefire first rounder. However his combination of grit, offensive prowess and defensive awareness just wasn’t enough to get teams to bite. He’s not a very fast player, and in fact could be a longshot NHLer. You can’t ignore the numbers he posted though (88 pts. in 61 games), but he will have to drastically improve his skating to be a significant NHLer. He’s a centermen, something the Canes need, and I’m not so sure he’s the guy to fill that need. It’s wait and see with him. He does have the talent… will he be the next Ron Francis…. or the next Travis Green.

As the Canes watch their home switch from place to place it will be nice to have some stability on the blueline. Tannabe offers that, he is the eye of Carolina’s Hurricane.